Remembering the Past
by KuraKathryn
Summary: Ever wondered what Dot's past was like? Or how she got all her businesses? Well, here's my answer. R/R!!!!


Okie dokie. Since Chapter five of 'The Ties That Bind' is also going through revision...I know, I know, I'm never satisfied with the outcome of these chapters...*ducks flying objects aimed at her head* Alright, it'll be posted ASAP, but until then, here's a little something that I wrote a couple of months ago. I hope you like it!  
  
Disclaimer: All the characters except Michael and Rowan Matrix and Sherry Aguillard belong to Mainframe Ent.   
  
Dedicated to my Onee-chan who has been there for me for five wonderful years. I love you, Onee-chan!  
  
  
Remembering the Past  
  
by  
Spookygirl  
  
  
  
The sky was a bright and clear blue. The system of Mainframe was alive and buzzing as its occupants went about their lives. It was a wonderful day for little binomes to play in the park and for the adults to take a well-deserved break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Everyone could be happy on a day like today. No viruses, no web creatures. Just peace and happiness. Surely anyone would be happy...except for one sprite.  
Dot Matrix sat on the sofa in her apartment below the diner sipping a mug of warm energy. Today was never a good day for her. Today was the day when no one could make her happy, not even Bob. Enzo was at school, but he was probably just as upset as she was. Her heart still cried out in agony on this day year after year, never failing in its cruel cycle. It was a day to remember the past and to remember the pain of this day just a few years ago.  
She reached out her hand and picked up a framed picture from the coffee table. It was an old picture taken just after she was born. She felt tears in her eyes as she looked upon the smiling faces of her parents. Her mother was sitting in a cushioned chair holding her baby daughter in her arms and smiling proudly with her violet eyes sparkling. Dot's father stood next to her mother with his hand on her shoulder and a huge smile on his handsome green face.  
It seemed like only yesterday she had told her parents goodbye and left their lab in the Twin City to take Enzo to his school in Kits Sector. She remembered the smile on her parents' faces and the short hugs goodbye. They had made plans to have dinner as a family later that night for her mother wanted Dot to take a short break from the newly opened diner. None of them had even suspected that the Matrix children would become orphans and that the parents would take an entire city with them into death on that fateful day.  
She remembered saying goodbye to Enzo and promising to pick him up after school. Then she had started zipping toward Baudway to open the diner for the day. Business was booming and she couldn't keep the customers waiting. She was just about to leave Kits when there was a blinding flash of white light followed by a deafening roar. She had screamed and covered her ears, miraculously managing to stay on her zipboard.   
When the stars cleared from her eyes, she had turned to look for the cause of the disturbance. What she saw made her heart freeze and her breath catch in her chest. The Twin City was gone. Nothing remained of it but a smoldering fragment of what was Mainframe's sister city. The land mass was completely ruined and covered in nulls, a huge squealing mass of nulls. She knew then and there that she would never get to see her parents again, never get to have dinner with them, never hug them.  
CPUs flew past her toward the remains of the city, but she didn't pay them any mind. Her thoughts were all rushing through her head and she felt sick. Her parents were gone, never to return. How was she going to handle this? The tears came and slowly coursed down her cheeks. She lowered her zipboard to the ground and she stepped forward only to collapse onto her knees. Dot stared as the citizens of Mainframe saw what had happened to the Twin City, many crying for loved ones who were gone. A sob escaped her followed by a scream of denial, confusion, and intense pain all in one.  
Looking back on that day was never easy. She had taken care of Enzo to the best of her ability, raising him like her own, but knowing that she could never take the place of their parents. For the longest time, all Dot and Enzo had were each other. They were there for each other no matter what. She glanced at the plaque on hanging on her wall:  
  
In Memoriam  
of  
Michael and Rowan Matrix  
Beloved parents and friends.  
  
She tried to avoid looking at it, but every now and then it would catch her eye and she'd be forced to look. Today, she couldn't avoid it. The rest of the people of Mainframe dealt with the anniversary in their own way, but most thought it best to forget. As appealing as that sounded to her, Dot couldn't just forget. So, she took this day off from work every year no matter what and simply remembered. Doing this last year had been impossible due to the war with Megabyte, but nothing short of a system crash could stop her this year.  
Bob had offered to keep her company today, as he'd done every year since they first met, knowing that she would be upset, but she politely thanked him and declined. Why did she always decline his offer? Did she do this year after year to remember her parents, to remember the day she and Enzo had become orphans, or just to simply ask why? Why did her parents have to be so devoted to their work? Why did they leave her to take care of a little sprite? She'd had so many hopes and dreams for the future. She knew everything she had now was a blessing, there was no denying that, but she had worked so hard to get it.  
"Why didn't you just leave it alone? I always asked you to let it go, but you never listened to me. You abandoned your children for an experiment. Because of you, an entire city was destroyed!" she said to the picture, her voice steadily rising.  
She threw the picture frame with all her might across the room and the glass shattered when it hit the floor. She curled up tightly on the sofa and let the tears come. They fell down her cheeks as she again looked at the plaque. She knew it was pointless to talk to them and get angry, they wouldn't answer her no matter how loud she screamed.  
A strong arm wrapped around her shoulders and she turned to look at the one person in the entire Net it had to be. Tear-filled violet eyes met compassionate brown eyes and, as always, time seemed to stand still.  
"Bob," she whispered as she looked at him, a few tears falling.  
"Dot, I know you didn't want me to come and I'm sorry, but I just wanted to be there for you," he said as he gently wiped her tears away with his thumbs.  
"It's alright. I'm not angry," she smiled slightly and was surprised to find that she really wasn't angry with him for coming when she said not to. She was grateful for his company. She looked at the plaque again.  
Bob took her hand. "I don't think they abandoned you, Dot."  
She sighed. She knew they hadn't. Their work had been very important, but sometimes she just had to let out some of the pain and anger that built up inside her. "I know, but I just get so angry at them."  
"I understand, but they were working on something that could've affected everyone in the Net, Dot. That's something you can't ignore. Turning nulls back into sprites is something that everyone could be happy about. They were only trying to make life easier and to help those who lost their lives before their time."  
"I'm not mad at them for the experiment, I'm mad because they left me to raise a small child and fend for myself. I had a lot of help after Mom and Dad died."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, I did. From one of the greatest women I've ever had the pleasure of calling my friend." Dot replied, a tiny smile brightening her face a bit.  
"Who was she?" Bob asked curiously.  
"Well, I didn't really make a lot of money with the diner when it first opened. It was enough for just me to live on, but I had Enzo to think of, so I went and got a job as a desk clerk at the old Windows Corporation in Wall Street. I worked down the hall from the CEO, Sherry Aguillard. She was so nice. She talked to me every time she saw me. We became friends and she taught me everything she new about business management.  
"I used the knowledge Sherry taught me and moved up in the company after only a few months. I improved things at the diner and it became one of the most popular places in Mainframe, but I wanted more. I wanted to be as successful with my business as Sherry was with hers. After a couple of years of working in the company, I bought some of its shares and became the Vice President. Sherry still helped me whenever I needed it and I started to get involved in other businesses in Mainframe. Now here I am.  
"About a year after I became VP at Windows, Sherry deleted. I became the president of the company and I had my business empire. I mourned her like I did my parents. She had become my surrogate mother in the time that I knew her. I owe her everything I have now. She was always there for me." Dot explained.  
"Wow. She must have been really special, but I think you paid her back for everything. If I remember correctly, the company is now called Aguillard Inc." Bob said.  
"I tried to pay her back as best I could, but no matter what I did it was never enough, so a couple of years ago, I set up a scholarship program for the poor children of the Net. She always thought that little children should have a good education despite their financial status. So, every year, I give thirty children across the Net who can't afford one the best education money can buy in her name."  
"I'd say you paid her back." Bob said with a smile. Throughout his entire life, he'd never met a woman whose main goal was to help others as graciously as she had, yet never ask for anything in return.  
"I hope so," she said, returning his smile.  
He leaned closer to her and stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Do you mind if I stay with you today?"  
"Not at all," she replied.   
Bob leaned back against the sofa and took Dot in his arms. She sighed contentedly, closing her eyes as she did so, and rested her head on his chest. They sat there in silence and remembered together.  
  
The End  
  
  
So, how was it? I'm dying to know what you think of it! And hey, it wasn't a romance fic this time!! Well...not really anyway. hehehe...I'm so proud of myself. Just kidding. Well, Jon, you said you didn't like mushy stuff. How's this one for you? ;) Please please please read and review!! 


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